Quality Inn, Dar’s Place evacuated following Monday fire

MASSENA — The Quality Inn, 10 W. Orvis St., and Dar’s Place, which is inside the hotel, were closed after firefighters responded early Monday to a report of smoke originating in the hotel’s electrical room.

Lee Stevens, Quality Inn general manager, said both will remain closed until an electrical inspection is completed at the hotel.

Mr. Stevens said the main electrical panel became too hot, causing black smoke but no fire.

“The smoke was pretty much confined to the basement. It was vented out the back loading dock area,” he said.

“The one good thing was it was all coming out the back” and not into the hotel, according to George Brouse, captain of the Massena Fire Department’s Hose 1.

All power at the hotel was still off as of 5 p.m. Monday, although a generator was providing some lighting.

“It doesn’t look like we’re going to open tonight,” Mr. Stevens said at that time. “There’s still a lot of work to do. What they’re trying to do right now is get the heat turned on in the building.”

When asked if he expected the hotel to open up today, Mr. Stevens replied, “That will depend on what they do tomorrow. There’s a lot of work left to do to get the building up and running.”

Approximately 40 rooms had guests, all of whom were evacuated safely to Emmanuel Congregational United Church of Christ, 39 W. Orvis St. There, guests were served a breakfast courtesy of the church.

“We evacuated the place just to be on the safe side. We knocked on the door and said, ‘You need to leave the building.’ We wanted to get everybody out. We didn’t know what we had. The (police department) assisted with that. We got everybody out and got them walked to the church,” Mr. Brouse said.

Fire Department First Assistant Chief Ted Krywanczyk said there were 55 occupants in the hotel at the time of the emergency and said the evacuation took 30 to 45 minutes.

Following the incident, Mr. Stevens said, guests were allowed to return to the hotel to collect their belongings. Those who had planned to check out left the hotel, while those who had planned to stay were moved to the Econo Lodge on Route 37, he said.

Mr. Stevens said the smoke and flickering lights were noticed by employees, who called him shortly after 6 a.m. The Fire Department was called to the scene at 6:18 a.m.; by 8 a.m., firefighters were hooking up exhaust fans to remove smoke from the electrical room, and they returned to their station by 9:59 a.m. Mutual aid was provided by the Louisville Fire Department and Seaway Valley Ambulance, and the Norfolk and Brasher-Winthrop departments were on standby.

St. Lawrence County fire officials labeled the incident as electrical and said there was only minor damage in the electrical room.

“It was electrical, but as far as what caused the electrical failure, I’m not sure,” Mr. Krywanczyk said.

“The good news is there were no injuries,” Mr. Stevens said.